Transparent Assignment Template

A guide for developing & explaining in-class activities and ont-of-class assignments

Note: This template is adapted from the University of Las Vegas, Nevada and the Transparency in Learning and
Teaching (TILT) Project.

Assignment Name:
Due Date:

Purpose
Define the learning objectives in language and terms that help students recognize how this assignment
will benefit their learning. Indicate how these are connected with the institutional learning outcomes,
and how the specific knowledge and skills involved in this assignment will be important in students' lives
outside of the classroom.

Skills: The purpose of this assignment is to help you practice the following skills essential to
your success in this course/in school/in this filed/in your professional life beyond school.

Note: Bloom's Taxonomy may help you explain these skills in language students will understand.
Listed from cognitively simple to most complex, these skills are:
• understanding basic disciplinary knowledge and methods/tools
• applying basic disciplinary knowledge/tools to problem-solving in a similar but unfamiliar context
• analyzing
• synthesizing
• judging/evaluating and selecting best solutions
• creating/inventing a new interpretation, product, theory

Knowledge: This assignment will help you become familiar with the following important content
knowledge in this discipline:
1.

2.

Task
Define what activities the students should do and/or perform. List steps, guidelines, or a
recommended sequence to guide the students' efforts. Specify any potential mistakes to be avoided.

Note: Bloom's Critical Thinking Cue Questions can provide inquiry questions to scaffold the inquiry
process for your students.

Criteria for Success

Define the characteristics of the finished product. This may be in the form of a checklist that students can use to
evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts while they work on the assignment, to judge the quality of their work,
and to structure peer review activities. Indicate whether this task or product will be graded and, if so, how that
will factor into the overall grade for the course.

EWU New Faculty Orientation Workshop #4 2/23/2018

EWU New Faculty Orientation Workshop #4 2/23/2018

Transparent Assignment Template [BLANK)

Assignment Name:
Due Date:

Purpose:

Skills:

Knowledge:
1.

2.

Task:

Criteria for Success:

Note: This template is adapted from the University of Las Vegas, Nevada and the Transparency in
Learning and Teaching (TILT) Project.
 EWU New Faculty Orientation Workshop # 4
2/23/2018

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Note: This checklist is adapted from the University of Las Vegas, Nevada and the Transparency in LearninR and
Teaching (TILT) Proiect.

PURPOSE
Skiiis
> Does your purpose statement specify a skill or skill set that students will practice while
doing the assignment?
> Does your purpose statement link that particular skill/skill set to examples/contexts where
this skill was important in the context of:
• recent class sessions • the discipline?
• this part of the course? • your institution's main learning
• the whole course? outcomes?

• the major?
> Does your purpose statement indicate the relevance and/or usefulness of this skill/skill set to the
students' lives:
• beyond the course?
• beyond the major?
• Beyond college

Knowtedge
> Does your purpose statement specify content knowledge that students will gain from doing this
assignment?
> Does your purpose statement link that particular knowledge to the larger context of
• recent topics of class sessions? • the discipline?
• this part of the course? • your institution's main learning
• the whole course? outcomes?

• the major?

> Does your purpose statement indicate the relevance and/or usefulness of this knowledge to the
students' lives:
• beyond the course,

• beyond the major?

• beyond college?

> Would this assignment benefit from segmenting it into several assignments, each one focused on a
discrete set of skills that should be mastered to insure students' successful completion of the next
assignment in the sequence?
 EWU New Faculty Orientation Workshop # 4
2/23/2018

TASK

> Does your assignment identify the very first thing students should do when they begin working on
the assignment?
• The very next thing they should do?
• The next, etc.

> Does your description of the task help students to avoid wasting their time on unnecessary steps,
unproductive time expenditure?
> Does your description help students to focus their time efficiently on producing the highest quality
work possible in the time given?
> Would students benefit from some practice exercises (in the form of a pre-task) in class to prepare
them to perform the task outside of class on the graded assignment?

CRITERIA

> Can students use the criteria while they are working on the assignment to determine whether they
are completing the assignment efficiently and effectively?
• Do the criteria take the form of a checklist students can use to evaluate the quality of their efforts while
they are working on the assignment?
• Does the checklist specify characteristics of high quality work for this assignment?
> Can you help students apply the checklist to evaluating some sample work in class, so they
understand how each criterion would look in practice?
• With your guidance, can the students collaboratively annotate several examples of work to indicate
where/how the work satisfies the criteria? These annotated examples may then be shared as a
reference for students to use while they work on their own assignments.

> Would a rubric (see the VALUE rubrics as examples) be helpful to students for this assignment?
• Does the rubric provide an amount of information that helps students at this phase in their learning?
• Does the rubric provide an overwhelming and counterproductive amount of information for students at
this phase in their learning?
> Did you provide examples of good work, annotated to identify exactly where and how this work
satisfies your criteria?
• Can you provide students with examples in class so they and you can test out your criteria checklist or
rubric to be sure students know how to apply the criteria to multiple examples of work) and eventually
their own work?
 Bloom's Critical Thinking Cue Questions
Cue Questions Based on Blooms' Taxonomy of Critical Thinking

LOWER-ORDER THINKING SKILLS HIGHER-ORDER THINKING SKILLS

(BASIC THINKING) (ABSTRACT THINKING)
3. APPLYING (Using learned knowledge in new 6. CREATING (Putting ideas together to form a new and
situations or to solve a real life problem) different whole)

• How would you use ... 7 • What changes would you make to solve...?
• What examples can you find to...? • How would you improve ...?
• How would you solve _ using what you • What would happen if ...?
have learned... 7 • How can you elaborate on the reason ...?
• How would you organize _ to show ... ? • What alternative can you propose...?
• How would you show your understanding of... 7 • How can you invent ,..?
• What approach would you use to...? • How would you adapt _ to create a different ...?
• How would you apply what you learned to develop • How could you change (modify) the plot (plan)...?
...? • What could be done to minimize (maximize)...?
• What other way would you plan to ... 7 • What way would you design ...?
• What would result If ... ? • What could be combined to improve (change)...?
• How can you make use of the facts to ...7 • How would you test or formulate a theory for...?
• What elements would you choose to change...? • What would you predict as the outcome of...?
• What facts would you select to show...? • How can a model be constructed that would change
• What questions would you ask in an interview ...?
with...? • What Is an original way for the...?

2. UNDERSTANDING (Comprehension; 5. EVALUATING (Making judgments about the merits of

Explaining the meaning of information) ideas, materials, or phenomena based on criteria)

• How would you classify the type of...? • Why do you agree with the actions? The outcomes?
• How would you compare ... 7 contrast...? • What is your opinion of...? (Must explain why)
• How would you rephrase the meaning...? • How would you prove ...? disprove...?
• What facts or Ideas show... 7 • How can you assess the value or importance of...?
• What Is the main Idea of... ? • What would you recommend ...?
• Which statements support...? • How would you rate or evaluate the...?
• How can you explain what Is meant... ? • What choice would you have made.,.?
• What can you say about...? • How would you prioritize ...?
• Which Is the best answer... 7 • What details would you use to support the view ...?
• How would you summarize ... ? • Why was it better than...?

1. REMEMBERING INFORMATION 4. ANALYZING (Breaking down a whole into component

(Knowledge; recalling facts and information) parts; Examining critically)

'What Is...? • What are the parts or features of,..?

'Howls...? • How is _ related to...?
•Where Is...? •Why do you think...?
• When did _ happen? •What is the theme...?
• How did _ happen? •What motive is there..,?
• How would you explain ... ? • What conclusions can you draw...?
• How would you describe ...? • How would you classify ...?
• What do you recall ...? • How can you identify the different parts...?
• How would you show ... ? • What evidence can you find...?
• Who (what) were the main...? • What is the relationship between...?
• What are three ...? • How can you make a distinction between..,?
• What is the definition of...? What is the function of...?
What ideas justify...?

Adapted by C. Alien (January 2013) from Public Consulting Group's Center for Resource Management,
in partnership with the Council of Chief State School Officers, August 2007
2/22/2018 VALUE Rubric Development Project | Association of American Colleges & Universities
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VALUE Rubric Development Project

The original VALUE initiative in 2007-09 involved teams of faculty and other educational professionals from over 100 higher education institutions
engaged over many months to develop 16 VALUE rubrics for the LEAP Essential Learning Outcomes. Each rubric was developed from the most
frequently identified characteristics or criteria of learning for each of the 16 learning outcomes. Drafts of each rubric were then tested by faculty
with their own students' work on over 100 college campuses.

Download the Rubrics

As part ofAAC&U's Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP) initiative, the VALUE rubrics contribute to the national dialogue on assessment
of college student learning. Since the initial release of the rubrics, more than thirty-two thousand first time individuals have visited the VALUE
|website between June 2010 and January 2014. The VALUE rubrics have been viewed at more than fifty-six hundred discrete institutions, including
[schools, higher education associations, and more than thirty-three hundred colleges and universities in the United States and around the world.

[See the VALUE Project Toolkit page for additional resources and examples of rubric use.

(AAC&U acknowledges the generous support from the State Farm Companies Foundation and the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary
lEducation (FIPSE).

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